During Dr. Frankes lecture, he focused on two approaches when teaching about the Cold War. The first was the context relative to the first amendment and the second was a break down with the separations of power. He utilized these two approaches to discuss the sorts of things that were currently happening surrounding the Cold War. Dr. Franke stated in his presentation, “drivers are always there—fear, tribalism, bigotry, ambition and demagoguery.” His reasoning for focusing on these methods was to assure that students gain a thorough understanding of the Cold War well using these approach’s. Political Scientist first perspective in regards to the Cold War, assault on the First Amendment, regulating speech, press and association in Democracy. …show more content…
Franke formulated his lecture assured that students are able to understand the central concept of the Cold War. He touches on an issue that many students often take for granted. He then goes one step further and ask, “Why protect speech in a Democratic Society.” Asking this question allows for students to take control of their learning and allows the teacher to direct the lesson in a manner that engages students. “The First Amendment is an essential corollary of self-governance.” The second question he asked was “why is speech threatened during war time?” Students have never been exposed to the extremes that people had to deal with during the Cold War era. The episodes of the cold war, in an aggressive effort to uncover subversion, the federal government initiated abusive loyalty programs, legislative investigations, and criminal prosecutions of the leaders and members of the Communist Party of the United States. The Second approach/perspective Political Scientist often take: a case study in what happens when the separation of powers mechanism breaks down. This idea is that the co-branches will watch and check the abuses of one another. Often times when you introduce this topic to students they either 1: do not understand this concept, or 2: they have a naive notion of the government and the running of the …show more content…
Franke addresses this approach by using examples such as the Rosenberg’s to demonstrate that true extent of this. For the next five years the nation was in the grip of a massive campaign to remove communists and communist sympathizers from positions of authority in national, state and local governments. The Rosenberg’s were heavily involved with the Manhattan Project, they were arrested and convicted of Espionage Activities. This represents for the first time how turbulent the times had gotten. Using this example engages student’s abilities to see on a personal level the true impact the Cold War had on society during this time. Dr. Franke then narrowed the topic to the Executive Branch “subversive organizations,” executive order authorized attorney general to “list” those organizations considered to be totalitarian, fascist, communist or subversive. In total, there were 254 such organizations. These types of actions quickly became a bipartisan tool for discouraging debate and criticism. The executive branch furthered this by executing “The Executive Branch Loyalty Review Boards.” By introducing students to this concept, it allows them to truly become engaged and truly experience feelings that people during the Cold War